Draddwyr
The Draddwyr are a racial group believed to have been some of the original inhabitants of Northern Dovani. Their first communication with the civilised world was probably a few years after Sir Christopher Dove discovered the Dovani continent. They, along with the Brythonic of Cildania, are sometimed referred to as Celts One Race, Two Lives The Draddwyr living in the North-Western part of Dovani quickly adopted the settlers ways and technologies. Within a few centuries there was little distinction between the lives of the Eastern Draddwyr and the now flourishing former settlers. For two decades the Draddwyr on the Plain seemed set to follow the same path. However after a powerful tribal leader by the name of Owain Glynwater decreed that the ways of the settlers was the ways of evil and that any Welshmen who followed them would incur the wrath of the Gods, things changed dramatically. Even though other tribal leaders were quick to denounce Glynwater, his views struch a cord with many Welshmen and numerous revolts, along with Glynwater's aggresive and violent warmongering ensured his view became gospel in the Welsh part of the Plain Glynwater's power could not cross the mountainous Barrier Range however and the Western Draddwyr continued to modernise. The Welsh leaders in the West, in an attempt to gain favour with the powerful settlers, denounced Glynwater and his decree. In doing so they strongly opposed religion, seeing this as the issue that would distinctly seperate them from their neighbours to the East. Modern Times By the time Westernly Dovani had split into four distinct nations there was little or no contact beteen the Eastern and Western Welsh. Since the rest of the civilised West considered the Eastern Draddwyr barbaric and uncivilised the Western Welsh made no attempts to continue contact. While there was a small but stable Welsh community remaining in Gishoto, mainly in the northern region of Hulstria, the vast majority had remained at the Noerthern tip of Dranland. Until 2212 the Welsh kept themselves to themselves, afraid to rock the boats with the rest of Dranland. Even though the rest of the nation's citizens were a combination of other orignial Dovani inhabitants and decenants of settlors who arrived 600 years previously, the Welsh still considered them "Mewnfudwyr" (Settlers/Immigrants). As their grandfathers had strived to please the "Mewnfudwyr" so did the modern Draddwyr. In 2212 however a group of prominent Draddwyr from the city of Mynydd Mawr, Elbian established Plaid Gyfreithiol Cymru with the aim of furthering the Draddwyr cause in the face of a Scientologist government. Political Draddwyr Their move into politicts became an instant success. In their first election in 2212 they seized control of the Parliament from the Scientologists. Cwlcymro became Prime Minister and in 2216 was joined as leader by President Arthur. Cwlcymro is Dranland's longest serving Prime Minister, serving 30 consequtive years as Prime Minister. He never lost an election. Arthur became Dranland's longest ever serving President with a total of 22 years. At the time he also held the record for the longest single term however Wu Zhi Qian later served for 20 consecutive years. End of an era In August 2245 the PGC held a massive celebration in their spiritual home of Mynydd Mawr, Elbian. The party was to celebrate Prime Minister Cwlcymro's 30 year reign. The whole event was emotional from the very start, with the Booked Animals playing for the first time since the tragic death of their lead singer Carmella Evans. As the festivities came to a close President Arthur took to the stage to introduce Cwlcymro. As the Prime Minister spoke a crazed gunman took to the stage and shot him point blank through the head. President Arthur, the first to react, launched himself at the assassin, grappling the gun from his grasp. The President shot the killer dead before turning at the crowd firing everywhere. A police sniper, contravening direct orders, shot the President dead. The Assassination of Cwlcymro dealt a fatal blow to the party and the next day enior minister Gruff Rhys announced the end of the party. The PGC disbanded and for 40 years the Draddwyr returned to keeping their distance from the rest of the population. Unlike their previous 600 years of existance however the Draddwyr now had welath and equal rights. While they had previously excluded themselves from soceity as inferiors, they now had the air of superiorness and arrogance. Political Revival In 2285 the PGC returned and took a firm grip on Dranish politics. For 4 years they had 54% of Parlimentary seats and changed the Dranian statute books beyond recognition. By 2289 however the Scientologists had returned to Dranland, along with a host of other new parties. For nearly 15 years the Draddwyr and the Scientologists held a bitter rivalary. During those years the PGC were loud opponents of the drug Yoj which had found favour with Seldonists in Dranland. Their efforts managed to get the drug banned in many countries, including Dranland. The Scientology-led New Theta launched court case after court case against the PGC who eventually went into insolvency, ceasing all operations. That was the beginning of a very dark time in Draddwyr history. Draddwyr Genocide Within days of the PGC disbanding the Draddwyr-Dranish city of Mynydd Mawr was bulldozed leaving tens of thousands dead under the rubble. The government blamed over-enthusiastic revellers but subsequent events casts serious doubt on their version of events. Hundreds of thousands of Mynydd Mawr inhabitants fled Dranland in fear. While it was reported that some crossed the Border Range to try and rejoin the Eastern Welsh the vast majority entered Gishoto where refugee camps were erected in the region of Hulstria. From those camps emerged the Refuge Pressure Party which, like the PGC before it, quickly stormed into power. The RPP's leader was Wali Thomas and within a few months of launching his party he became Comrade Chairman of Gishoto, ousting the long-existant Communist regime. He later won the Hero of Terra award for his work protecting the Welsh-Dranians and for disbanding Gishoto's nuclear arsenal. The Draddwyr who remained in Dranland however were still struggling for survival. Tales of systematic beatings and murders by the military were common and in 2311 the Dranian Government, without Parliamentary autharisation, launched Operation Ethnic Cleanse onto Mynydd Mawr. An estimated 50,000 Draddwyr-Dranians were killed during one night of carpet bombings. The international community criticized Dranland but the government seemed infazed. An attempt by the Gishoto based Creative Young Multinational Redevelopment Unit tried to bring back some Welsh influence to the area by building an enourmous toruist complex which for several years filled with Draddwyr-Gishotans. By this time however the opposition parties in Dranland were proposing military action against Gishoto in an attempt to kill the Welsh refugees. Gishoto got wind of the debate and asked it's Axis allies for support. Axis military assets moved into Gishoto as a defensive action. In March 2326 the Er Cof am Gymru tourist resoprt in Mynydd Mawr exploded in what was reported to be a nuclear explosion. Dranland and Gishoto moved closer to war as the Gishoto government accused the Dranians of slaughtering their citizens in Mynydd Mawr. War was averted when the citizens of Dranland ousted their government. This did not occur however until after the Dranian government had expelled all Draddwyr from the country and formed concentration camps where Welsh prisoners were reportedly systematically executed. With Dranland now in the hands of the facist Capitalist Zealotry League there are fears that the Welsh-Dranians who survived the first two attacks may suffer yet another. Category:Dranland Category:Dovani Category:Ethnic groups Category:Draddwyr Category:Dankuk